Minnesota Funk & Soul Blog

Here’s one that remains a bit of a mystery. The Three Men In Black “I Was Sent Here To Love You” on the Twin Town label. The group had great harmony but are totally singing over the instrumental b-side of the the Fuzz’s “I Love You For All Seasons” 45. With its rugged sound as well as the beginning and ending of the instrumental cut off i can’t imagine the group sold too many of these. If anyone knows any of the members or the story behind this one please get in touch!

Almost a year later, here it finally is! Maurice Mckinnies awesome version of Pouring Water On A Drowning Man. Sounds alot like James Carr! I believe Maurice Mckinnies would go on to record just one more 45 in the late 70’s/early 80’s. Possibly for a Chicago label though i can’t quite remember the details. I heard it long ago it’s no where near as good as his earlier output. When i come across it again i’ll get it posted.

Unlike the raw funk sound of Sock-A-Poo-Poo 69′ Maurice Mckinnies second release on the Black and Proud label features two great midtempo sides of southern soul. The first which you’ll hear below is an original written by Jackie Harris and Al Perkins titled Sweet Smell Of Perfume. The flipside which i’ll post later is a great cover of Pouring Water On A Drowning Man.

Maurice McKinnies And The Champions Sock-A-Poo-Poo 69′ was the first of five records released on Jack Harris’s Black And Proud label.

With it’s raw funk sound and James Brown like screams it’s probably the best on the label and definitely my favorite.

McKinnies would later record another 45 on the Black And Proud label with a much smoother sound. I’ll get to that in the coming days. Until then check out Sock-A-Poo-Poo Pt 1 below.

(By the way there are few different pressings of this record, the first being a white label promo local pressing, an orange label local pressing (as seen in the picture), and a pressing with a new york address which was distributed by atco, there’s two different fonts used on the one distributed by atco as well, the local issues are much harder to find)

Hot Pants goes down tonight September 12th @ Clubhouse Jager on 923 Washington Ave N in Minneapolis. Tonights special guest will be Aaron Porter of the local group The Prizefighters. Music kicks off at 10pm. Free cover charge. $2 Summit pints. Come on out have a drink, dance, and listen to some good music!

The b-side of the Big M’s 45 is titled Get Going and is a nice rockin’ instrumental with honking/blaring saxophone and a cool guitar solo. It’s more rock sounding but just as good if not better than the a-side.

As I mentioned before the names Munson and Wilson appear in the credits, the Wilson could possibly be Morris Wilson but that’s just a guess. If anyone has any idea i’d love to know. I also wouldn’t mind knowing a little bit more about the Munson brothers.

So anyway that’s both sides of Maurice Mckinnies first record. In the next few days i’ll post up his funk and soul sides on the Black and Proud label so stay tuned. Until then check out Get Going below.